Sword Art Online, Mark's story
by asteelyman13
Summary: Join gamer Mark and his friends as they live through the terror of Sword Art Online, encountering different challenges and facing a myriad of enemies along the way. Will they survive Sword Art Online, or will they become one of the many casualties?
1. Waiting

**Hello, this is my first ever fanfic, but I plan to make**

**this a long one. ANYWAY… **

**Please review and tell me how I'm doing, and so,**

**here's the overview:**

**Join gamer Mark and his friends as they live through the**

**terror of Sword Art Online, encountering different challenges**

**and facing a myriad of enemies along the way. Will they survive**

**Sword Art Online, or will they become one of the many casualties?**

**Warning: May contain some offensive language.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online or any**

**other anime I may reference, and do**

**not claim to own them. This is purely fan fiction.**

Mark paced around his room, it was 12:00 at the moment, and his very being was screaming at time to go faster. For the 50th time, he left his room, and pounded on his brother's door. In response, he heard an annoyed voice say, "Mark, calm the f*ck down, ok? The official launch is still an hour from now, so occupy yourself with something else for the time being!" Mark sighed. His brother was right, he shouldn't be this worked up about a game. But, then again, he did wait for quite a few days in line to get this game. Mark shook away the thought, and re-entered his room. He powered on his computer, and pulled up a game that one of his friends at school had given him to beta-test. It was a simple adventure game called "Joe the Adventurer." (**A/N: I actually made this game, and will probably put a link to download it in somewhere…) **He played this for about 45 minutes, and then got overly-eager to start playing SAO.

He closed the game, and walked over to his book-shelf. After opening it, he took out his copy of SAO. Mark opened the case, took out the game, and loaded it onto his computer. Once he had done that, he plugged in his Nerve-Gear, put it on his head, and laid down. Mark waited like this until the clock in his Nerve-Gear registered "13:00." Then he practically screamed, "LINK, START!" The startup sequence ran in front of his eyes, and he was taken to a screen that read, "Welcome to Sword Art Online, would you like to make a new character?" He clicked the button that said "yes." Mark was taken to the character-creation interface. Seeing all of the different things that he could use to customize his character, he groaned. He didn't really care whether or not he used his real face, or an avatar. Making a snap decision, he decided that he would not use an avatar. Once he had pressed the "finished" button, a message appeared. It read, "You have not made any changes, other players will see your true identity. Continue?" He manipulated his arm to press the "OK" button, and a keyboard appeared in front of him, as well as a prompt saying, "Enter your name." Mark rationalized that, since he was going to look exactly as he normally would, why not keep the same name as well? Quickly, he typed in his name, and pressed "Enter." He then was connected to the Sword Art Online server.

**Well, this is my first chapter of the story.**

**Please review, and tell me what you want to see in the story,**

**although I can't guarantee that it will be implemented, as I already**

**have the basic idea of how I want the story to develop. **

**Also, if you do comment, don't hold back on the criticism. It is **  
**a lot more helpful than empty praise. Anyways, see ya!**


	2. The beginning, part 1

**Disclaimer: Sword Art Online is not owned by Asteelyman13.**

**All things written about in this fanfiction are exactly that,**

**fanfiction, with emphasis on the fan part. Anyways, let's get**

**back to the actual story, shall we?**

Mark looked around, amazed. "It's so life-like…" he said. He started walking around the Town of Beginnings, looking for his brother. Soon, a man approached him. "Hey bro, that you?" Mark asked. The man replied, "Yeah. So, what do you think we should do now?" "I dunno, let's just walk around and see what's to be found. The two walked around for a few minutes, when suddenly another player ran up to them, and pulled a sword on Mark's brother, saying, "Hey, get the hell away from him you bastard!" Mark got into a fighting stance, and retorted, "Buddy, I don't know who the hell you are, but you'd better not draw a sword on my brother like that." The player gave him an odd look, "Your brother? What the hell are you talking about Mark?! Wait, are you really that f*cking stupid!?" "Whaddaya mean by that, huh!?" "What I mean, is that I am your brother, and you've been hanging out with some random guy!" Mark looked at the man who had first approached him. The man burst out in laughter, saying, "Ah, that was great, it took you until now to realize that I wasn't really your brother, oh man, that is just hilarious!" Mark was dumbstruck. "Wha-wha-WHAT!" Mark couldn't believe that he couldn't tell his brother apart from some total stranger. And now, both the man and his brother were laughing at him.

"Hey, stop laughing, it's not that funny, just stop, ok!" His brother, choking on his laughter, replied, "But, it's just so, just so… … HILARIOUS!" he then let off a new bout of laughter. Once Mark's brother and the man had calmed down, the man spoke once more, "So, my name's Girard, I now know that you're Mark," he said, pointing to Mark, "But I don't know your brother's name." Mark looked at his brother and asked, "Yeah, what is your name for SAO?" His brother pulled up the menu, and sent Mark a friend request. When Mark received the request, he read it aloud, "The F*ck-Mothering Gamer wishes to be your friend. Do you accept?" Mark looked up from the request, "Really bro, The F*ck-Mothering Gamer?" "Yep, and no, I am never changing the name, because 'I have killed A LOT of people to get this title, and deserve to be called as such'." Mark rolled his eyes. "You set that as your name just so you could make that reference, didn't you." "Exactly." After hearing this from his brother, he shook his head, and accepted the friend request, and then sent one of his own to Girard. Girard smirked, and accepted, afterwards sending a friend request to T.F.M.G. (**A/N: I will be abbreviating his name like this, because I really don't feel like typing in The F*ck-Mothering Gamer every time he appears.**)

After accepting the request, T.F.M.G. said, "Ok, well, let's meet back here in half an hour, until then, get whatever gear you need. See ya!" And with that, T.F.M.G. stalked off. "Well, I guess I'll see you back here in half an hour then," said Girard as he left. Mark started walking around, and seeing what the various shops had in stock. When he finally decided what weapon he was going to use, he decided he would use a standard sword-shield build. But Mark also felt that he didn't want to buy ready-made gear, instead, he would make his own. He bought the necessary materials, and found an anvil and furnace, so that he could actually make them. He started with his leg-armour, thinking it the better thing to start off with. The armour turned out worse than he had hoped for, but shrugged the thought away. He'd get better as he used the skill. He moved onto the chestplate, which turned out a little bit better, but still wasn't his target quality.

After equipping the legs and chestplate, he started on the shield, or rather, it's frame. He had the frame be the shape of a standard kite-shield, and then filled in the center with a sturdy wood, finally attaching straps and a handle to the side he wouldn't be using to deflect enemy attacks with, hopefully successfully. He took his remaining materials, and realized that he had bought too much metal. "Oh well, I guess I could make a dagger as well," he said. Staying true to his word, he took some of the remaining materials, and forged a dagger out of them. The dagger's blade was about a foot (**A/N: About 0.3 meters for all you who use the metric system**) long, and had a somewhat dull edge. Mark sighed, and took the edge of the blade to a grinding wheel, until it was nice and sharp. Examining the blade once more, he found it satisfactory, and put it into his storage. Then, turning back to the anvil and his materials, he knew he was ready to make his sword. Mark picked up the tongs, and used them to pick up and hold the last of the metal in the furnace. Once the metal started glowing orange from the heat, he removed the metal, placed it on the anvil, and started hammering it. After he had hit it a few times, the metal glowed, and started to take the form of a sword. The sword had a length of two and a half feet, (**0.75 meters**) a cross piece that had a "U" shape, and a handle, long enough that, if he wanted to, he could hold it with both hands instead of just the one. Mark opened the menu, equipped his shield, and taking the sword in his left hand, left the shop.

**I'm sorry that I there hasn't been any action in the**

**story, but I promise I will put some in the next chapter.**

**Thank you for reviewing those who did, and thank you**

**for reading, those who did not. I'll try to get my next chapter**

**up soon. GOODBYE!**


	3. The beginning, part 2

**Disclaimer: Once again, I DO NOT OWN SAO, and**

**do not claim to own it, or any of the characters**

**and/or monsters from the series that may appear**

**in this fanfiction. ON TO THE STORY!**

Mark waited in the meeting place. It had been half an hour already, and no-one was here yet. Well, no-one other than him and the two meatheads that kept dueling each-other. After a few minutes, Mark was fed up with this. "Ok, guys, I've got a deal for you," he said to the meatheads, "I'll fight you both, one on one, and if I win both fights, you find some other place to fight, and if I lose a fight, I'll pay the winner 100 col. Seem fair?" The meatheads looked at each-other and grunted. Then the one on the left sent a duel request. It read, "Bart wishes to duel, do you accept?" Mark pressed the "standard mode" button, and got his weapon ready. A minute later, the battle started. Bart swung his battle-axe in a wide arc towards Mark. Mark smirked and jumped atop the blade, letting it carry him closer to Bart. When he was close enough, he did a front-flip off the axe, and slashed Bart across the chest. Bart stumbled backwards, and a panel appeared, naming Mark the winner. Still smiling, he accepted the duel request from the other meathead, whose name was apparently Ignos. Ignos seemed to have a better grasp of strategy than his friend. He and Mark circled each-other slowly. Mark feigned an opening, and Ignos lunged forward with his great-sword. Mark slammed the over-sized blade into the ground using his sword, and hit Ignos with a stab of his own. Immediately after, he felt the force of Ignos' fist hit him in the stomach, and was immediately thankful that the chestplate had been a little too big. Mark got back to his feet, and rat at Ignos full tilt, dodging the sweeping great-sword. Finally, he was within attacking range. Mark faked a slash, and smashed his shield into Ignos, knocking him to the ground. He then slashed at the giant until the results panel named him the winner. Panting, Mark got up and sat down against a wall. The two meatheads looked at each-other and nodded. Soon, Mark simultaneously received a friend request from the both of them. He was puzzled somewhat, but accepted. Just then, T.F.M.G. and Girard walked up. "So, let me guess, you f*cked these poor bastards up in one vs. one duels, didn't you Mark," said T.F.M.G. "Yep, and now I guess they're my friends." "Cool," said Girard, "Now we can have a party of five instead of three. And we'll have a near-perfect team setup." "Whaddaya mean by that?" asked Mark. "Well, we have two tanks, two sword-and-shield users, and one support, in the form of a spear user." "Ohhh. That's what you meant. Yeah, you're right on the mark there. Anyways, what should we do now?" T.F.M.G. asked. "Grind," said Bart. "What?" "He means let's go out and kill some trash mobs," said Ignos. "Oh…"

"Another one bites the dust!" T.F.M.G. yells as they kill another mob. "Hey, bro, look at the time." T.F.M.G. takes a look at the time and exclaims, "Whoa, 5:30 already! We'd better get going, or else we'll miss the catering we ordered!" "Really," said Girard, "Catering? You're really that into this?" Mark fixes Girard with a hard look, and replies, "Yes, we are, now, if you'll excuse us…" Mark and T.F.M.G. simultaneously open their menus, and after a moment of silence, recoil in shock. "Bro, are you seeing this?" "Yeah, but, how is this possible?" Girard takes a step forward and asks, "What're you two talking about?" The brothers turn to face him. "The log-out button, it's not there." Silence drags on for a moment, and then Girard laughs, "Ah, I get it, you're playing a joke on us aren't you, see it's right he-" Girard stops talking. He had just opened his own menu, and seen that there wasn't indeed a log-out button. "H-h-how?" Girard stutters, "How can there not be, a log-out button?!" Bart and Ignos look at each-other, and open their respective menus. "No menu, I think," says Bart. "Indeed," replies Ignos, "I cannot find the log-out button either." Just then, a shadow looms over the players, and they look at its source. "What the- It's a-a-a level 6. monster!" shouts Mark.

The players hastily regroup. They prepare for it's attack, but halfway through it, the monster starts shaking, and then dies. When the death animation clears, the group sees a lone figure standing there. "Well then, what do we have here, a couple of level 4. players. What should I do?" the figure says. The group once more gets into battle ready stances, and Mark says, "If you want a fight, we'll give you one!" "So I guess you're the natural leader of your little group?" Mark sits there stunned, and T.F.M.G. replies, "Yeah, I guess so, and I think that if it came down to a vote, he'd probably be the leader, right guys?" The rest of the group agrees in their own ways, "So there you have it bro," T.F.M.G. continues, "We're behind you, so do what you need to." "Thanks man, I appreciate that…" "Well, wasn't that a heart-warming moment," the man says, and the group turns back to him, "But anyway, I think I like this little group. Maybe I'll join you, maybe even friend you." The man pulls up his menu, and a moment, each of the players get a friend request that reads, "Zenrith wishes to be your friend, do you accept?" "That's a pretty bad-ass name you've got there," says T.F.M.G. "You too, The F*ck Mothering Gamer. It's too bad I didn't come up with that one." "You know you want my na- wait, what's this feeling?" They heard the tolling of the bell, and found themselves back in the town of beginnings, along with the other 10,994 players on the server. (**A/N: Yes, that's right, I counted the 1,000 beta-testers. Don't like it, deal with it.**) "What just happened?" someone in near them asked. Zenrith was the one to reply, "I believe that you just experienced your first forced teleport." "Wait," started Mark, "So that means this has happened to you before?" "Yep, I was one of the 1,000 beta-testers, didn't I tell you that?" "Nope!" said T.F.M.G. "Whoops! Sorry, but, just saying, I think there'll be a system announcement soon." "How can you tell?" In answer to the question, Zenrith simply pointed to the sky. The others followed his gaze, and saw a red hexagon flashing the word, "Warning." "Oh, tha-" Mark was cut short by the appearance of more hexagons, some reading "Warning," others, "System Announcement." Watching the sky, Girard remarked, "And now, the sky seems to be bleeding," in response to a red substance leaking out from between some of the hexagons. The blood coalesced into a figure resembling a person. Then, the figure spoke, "Hello, my name is Kayaba Akihiko, creator of Sword Art Online."

**CLIFF-HANG-ER!**

**Unless you've read the manga/watched the**

**anime. As always, please review, and if you**

**have any ideas for characters, monsters,**

**bosses, plot twists, et-cetera et-cetera,**

**please submit them in your reviews and please,**

**keep reading! I make this, for the most part, for you,**

**the readers and reviewers. Although, it also is partly for**

**me, so I can actually remember these little things that I come**

**up with. See you soon with the next chapter!**

**-**_**Asteelyman**_


	4. Getting a guild together, part 1

Hello, this chapter I'll be skipping Kayaba's big long spiel of what SAO is and how if you die in the game you die in real life et-cetera et-cetera because hopefully you've at least watched the first episode of the anime/read the first book of the manga before reading this fanfiction. ANYWAYS, that's all you really need to have seen/read to get this story, because from now on I (generally) will keep this fanfiction separate from the actual story. Kirito and Asuna and all the others still exist, just, they don't appear, unless they do, then they do appear, and well, DISCLAIMER: I do not own SAO, blah blah blah, enjoy.

A/N: I realized that I should NOT make the completely random end line things in the intro/extros. Anyways, STORY!

Mark opened his item storage. There was a new item there, labeled, "mirror." He selected it, and a small mirror dropped into his hand. Looking into it, a strange blue light enveloped him, and soon, there was mass confusion all around him. Suddenly, he heard Girard say, "T.F.M.G. what the hell happened to your face!" Mark looked at his brother, and saw nothing wrong. He looked like he normally did. It was in fact Girard and the giants who looked different. Actually, it seemed that the giants were even taller and more brawny than ever. Girard turned to Mark, and said, "Actually, it looks like Mark is the only one who hasn't changed at all." And then it hit him. Of course, his brother didn't look odd. He looked like he always had looked. In real life anyways. Girard started talking to his brother and the giants, and Mark noticed a feminine voice saying, "Dammit!" coming from the direction of Zenrith. He turned to him, and at first, saw nothing wrong. But then he saw a slight bulge in the front of Zenrith's cloak. "Wait, don't tell me," Mark thought…

… "Zenrith, you're a, a, a gi-?!" Mark blurted out, but then was stopped, as she put a finger to her lips, and motioned for him to come closer. "Hey," she said, "Could you, maybe not tell the others about this?" "S-sure, but, why?" he asked. "Well, it's because, I don't want them to know that I'm a girl." "And why not, wait, are you one of those-" "NO!" she said sharply, cutting him off, "I just manipulated my appearance so that, at first people would think I was a guy…" "Why would you do that?" "Well, it's because, I wanted players to see me as a guy, and then when they would see how good I am, they'd all say, 'Wow, that guy's a real badass,' or something along those lines, and then, I'd throw off my cloak and ask, "What guy?' and then, they'd all respect me, even though I was a girl." Mark was silent for a moment, and Zenrith took this as a bad sign, and so, said, "Yeah, it's a stupid plan, I know but I ju-" "No, it's not a stupid plan at all. In fact, I like it. The truth is, with me, I don't care whether you're a guy, girl, strong, weak, smart, or well, you get the picture. I like people for their personalities, not what's just on the surface." "Thanks Mark, it's good that I know at least one person like that."

"So, what's our fearless leader talking about with the badass guy huh?" Girard asked Mark. Mark started, "Well, uh, what we were um, tal-" but Zenrith stopped him by holding up a hand, and then spoke, "You see, what we were talking about, was the fact that I'm not a guy." "What?" asked Girard. "I am not a guy." Girard looked at her with a blank stare. Getting annoyed, she threw off her cloak and yelled at Girard, "I, AM, A, GIRL!" Her outburst was met with a simple, "Oh that." Now she was confused, "Whaddaya mean, 'Oh that'." "What I mean," Girard said, "Is that me, T.F.M.G., and the giants have known that the whole time." Silence reigned for a moment, and then Mark and Zenrith both said, "WHAT!? HOW COULD YOU TELL?!" Girard uncovered his ears, now that the extremely loud sound had stopped, and said, "You know, there's a thing about badass girls, they're always way more badass than the guys."

After having settled on that matter, they decided that they should find twelve more players, including four tanks, four sword-shield users, and four support's (as Zenrith's attack specialty fell under the category of support,) and create a guild. They decided to split into groups of two, each tasked with a different attack category. "Ok," Mark began, "The giants can go and find our tanks, my brother and I can find our sword-shield users, and Girard and Ze-" Mark's brother clamped a hand down on his mouth, saying, "What my misguided brother meant to say, is that the giants will recruit the tanks, Girard and I will find the sword-shield users, and Zenria, because that sounds more like a girl's name than Zenrith, so Zenria and him will go and find our support, right?" When he finished, he glared at Mark, letting him know there was no room for argument, and let him go. Mark breathed heavily for a moment, before turning on his brother, saying, "YOU ALMOST KILLED ME VIA ASPHYXIA! And sure, that sounds like a good plan, let's go." Girard and T.F.M.G. looked at each-other, and laughed as they walked away. Mark thought he heard the giants sniggering, but he couldn't be sure. He turned to Zenria, who was still slightly shocked at the rest of the group's knowing she was a girl, and said, "Well, I guess let's be off." "Yeah, and thank goodness your brother intervened there." "Why?" Zenria fixed him with a completely serious look. "I did NOT want to be in the same group as Girard."

Bart and Ignos walked around town until they ran into a big circle of players. They nodded at each-other, and walked into the center once the on-going duel had stopped. The crowd stared at them, and Ignos spoke. "We're recruiting four tanks for our guild. Beat us in one vs. one combat, and you can join." The people in the crowd looked at each-other, and then one heavy-bodied man stepped forward. "I'll take you out real quick," he said, as he sent the duel request. One minute twenty-five seconds later, the man was on the ground, and Ignos was roaring, "WHO'S NEXT?!" This trend continued for a few minutes, until a young man walked up, saying, "I think that would be me." The man sent the duel request, and Ignos accepted. Ignos looked over the man as the timer counted down. He wasn't even truly a man, more of a boy. And on top of that, he didn't have all that much muscle. Also, where was the boy's weapon? Then Ignos noticed the boy's gauntlets. The one on the right was spiked at the knuckles, and the left had extra reinforcements and a few odd out-croppings. Ignos sighed, this might be too easy. The buzzer went off, and Ignos swept his sword towards the boy. The boy leaned backwards, the slash narrowly missing him. Ignos followed through with a downward slash. The boy brought up his left arm, and bracing it with his right, caught the blade between two of the outcroppings on his gauntlet. The boy grimaced in pain, the force had been more than he'd expected, he would have to end this quickly. Slamming the blade into the ground, the boy ran up to Ignos and pummeled him with his bare fists. Ten strikes later, and Ignos was down for the count. "Good fight," Bart said, "You join."

"So, you think your little setup will work on your brother?" "Oh, definitely, they'll be dating soon enough." "What I don't get, is why you didn't have her in your group." "Oh, well, I've got a girl waiting back home for me. She's so nice, and I couldn't betray her just like that." "Damn, you're a lucky guy. Think she'll wait for you?" "At least until I wake up, or die… Think this is a good spot?" Girard looked around the mini town-square they were in, "As good as any." T.F.M.G. pulled up a crate, and Girard stood on top of it. "Ok, here's the deal. We have four spots in our guild for one-handed weapon users, such as maces, swords, axes, and of course, shields. So, without further ado, let me tell you the rules. You beat my friend here in a sparring match, and you can join. If you're a tank, or a support class, look around the town, you should find our guild-mates holding similar events. Now, LET THE GAMES BEGIN!" A voice cried out from a crowd, "Technically, the games have already begun, since we're playing SAO…" Girard stared at the speaker. "Well f*ck you too, now who's first?" A line of one-handed weapon users soon formed, and T.F.M.G. had his hands full, or so Girard thought at first. T.F.M.G. mowed down the line, none of his fights taking more than a minute. Finally, he said, "Ok, everyone who has lost, and everyone still in line, keep going, I'll make it easier on you now, no shield." As promised, T.F.M.G. un-equipped his shield, and kept going. He reached the end of the original line, and the fighter there told him, "I'll only fight you if you equip your shield, I wouldn't want to have an unfair advantage." That voice was familiar, but he couldn't see the challenger's face. "Ok," he said, "How about, if I beat you, you take off the mask?" "Seems fair." She sent him the duel request, and they fought. And she destroyed him. Gasping for breath, he said, "You know what, you don't have to take off the mask anyways, I know who you are, and you know what?" "What?" she said. "I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU NOT TO JOIN THE SERVER UNTIL I CALLED YOU AND TOLD YOU THAT IT WAS SAFE!" Silence filled the air. "Whoops."

"Uh, Zenria, where exactly are we going?" "To recruit some competent support." "Then why have we left the Town of Beginnings?" "Because at least 75% of the competent support has as well." "But why would they do that?" Zenria stopped in her tracks and turned to face him. "Because soon, every monster that's around the town of beginnings, will be hunted, and they've gone to a different place, so that they can actually find some monsters to kill." With this, Zenria turned back around, and they resumed their course. They soon came upon a group of about twenty players on the same path as them. Zenria walked up to them, and spoke, "So, have any of you fought Illfang the Kobold Lord yet?" About ten of the players turned around and smirked. Two or three answered, "No, but I killed a few sentinels." The rest of the players stood there incomprehensive of what had been said. "Ok," Zenria started, "So out of you, whose a support-class?" Six players raised their hands. "Nice catch I'd say. So, which of you feels like joining mine and his guild?" she asked, pointing first to herself, then to Mark. A voice rose from the crowd, "Why not, it could be fun and anyway, I've got a debt to pay you, Zenrith." "Ah, Veix, I was wondering if I'd see you again. So you want to have another go then?" "Of course, why would I not want to face one of the few scythe-users in the game?" Mark looked at Zenria. A scythe? He didn't know they'd had those in the game. But how did these two know each-other, and then it hit him. They had been beta-testers, and most likely all of the thirteen were beta-testers. This might turn out extremely well for his guild. While he was lost in thought, he didn't notice that a count-down had started. If only he could recrui-. Mark was brought back down to earth by the sound of clashing weapons. Zenria and Veix were dueling. Zenria was using a simple scythe, with a wooden handle, and metal curved blade. Veix was attacking via naginata, (A/N: A naginata is basically a spear, except instead of a tip at the end, it has a sword-blade) but Zenria seemed used to fighting against such a weapon. She blocked a swipe, and counter-attacked viciously. She moved in, now Veix would have to give ground to be able to hit her with his blade. Zenria spun the scythe, switching her grip from right hand in front and left hand in back, to right in back and left in front, and then she would switch it back after a spin or two. She kept doing this, the barrage of attacks on Veix never relenting, and giving him numerous injuries. Eventually, his health dropped to yellow, and she was proclaimed the winner. She stalked away and sat down. Mark, thoroughly impressed said, "OK then. I think this is what we'll do. Once Veix is healed, you'll each duel one of the other members of this group. The top three players will join us." "But what about the fourth?" one of the six asked. "Hmm, that's a good question… I know, here's what'll happen: Whomever's fighting Veix, if you lose, you still get on the team. If you win, the losers from the other two matches will fight, and the winner of that is the fourth member. Seem OK?" "Wait up," said Veix, "Everyone else get's two chances, so why do I only get one?!" "Because you just had your first chance, and you lost, so now you have one left. Don't waste it!" Veix spat on the ground and muttered under his breath. The groups teamed up, and the duels began. Veix lost his match to a lancer name Iric, one of the winners of the other matches was a halberdier (A/N: A halberd is basically an axe mixed with a spear) whose name was Greg, and the other was a quarterstaff (A/N: Quarterstaff = A stick you hit people with) user called Marcus O'Malley O'Connell O'Carroll O'Reilly O'Brian O'Sullivan. The underdog was another spearman, this whose name was MacDuffleBag. Mark only hoped the other groups were having the same amount of success as him…

What will the fully manned guild be like? Or will they even have enough players? Will the new members accept Mark as the leader? Will they even survive as a guild? Find all of this out in the next chapter, as well as if I've improved/gotten worse at writing intros/extros! See you next time!

~Asteelyman13


	5. Getting a guild together, part 2

Good day (or night!) I am once again back with another chapter in Mark's story. I've been trying to be consistent with my updating of it, but I have limited access to computers that I can actually use to publish the chapters, and I am caught up in reading several manga, and watching several anime, on of those being Tokyo Ghoul, another being Parasyte: The Maxim, and the new season of SAO/ALO/GGO. So please excuse the possibility of extreme violence, because, as some of you may know, Tokyo Ghoul and Parasyte are both very violent anime. Also, if you are reading, please review. I'd rather have a review telling me that I have the worst story on the site (And I do hope that it isn't) than no reviews at all, making it seem as though no one wants to read my stories. Anyways, no more of my non-rant, here's the story!

Mark sat in the bell-tower of the Town of Beginnings along with Zenria and the four players that they had recruited. "So," said Mac, "Do ya' think that your guild-mates got some good players on their ends?" Mark looked out at the town and said, "Well, with my brother, I'm actually worried about him beating everyone who challenges him, rather than the quality of players." Marcus, who was sharpening his spear, said, "So your brother's really that good of a swordsman? Was he a beta-tester?" Mark laughed at this, "A beta-tester, no way, it's just that he's one of the top ten kendo practitioners in Japan." "WHAT!" yelled Greg, who was startled so much he almost fell off of the tower. Iric caught him and asked, "So what about you then? How good are you?" "I'm in the top 200." "Let me guess, you're number 200."said Zenria. Mark was silent for a moment before saying, "Yep." "Oh he's number 200 alright, and you know what, that's because he never F*CKING PRACTICES!"

"Hey bro, got a nice catch?" Mark asked. "I don't know, did he?" The voice came from behind T.F.M.G., and it sounded, familiar… Its owner stepped off to the side, and Mark saw her face. "Y-y-you! Why are you here! You should not be here! What do you think you are doing?! What happened here bro!" "I take it you know her," said Zenria. "Whoever she is, she's hot," this was Iric. The woman rolled her eyes and said, "I'm Eiran, Mark and T.F.M.G.'s cousin. Good to meet you all." Mark glared at her, and T.F.M.G. followed suite. Greg looked between them, and asked, "So, why are you two staring daggers at her?" The glares turned on him as Mark said, "Well, you see what happened is, we were supposed to go into the game alone to make sure that this sort of thing didn't happen, and then after we were sure of that, then we'd tell her to join. But I guess someone got impatient and logged on anyway." "Once again, whoops!" Eiran said. Mark just sighed and said, "Oh well, let's just stay here until the giants come back with our new tanks, and then we can do more introductions, OK?"

Half an hour later…

"WHERE ARE THEY!"

Two hours later…

"Hey guys, we got our four tanks," this was Ignos. "Well it took you long enough, we were waiting for two-and-a-half hours for you!" "It hard to find good tank," said Bart. "Sure sure, whatever, anyways, let's get these introductions started, shall we? I'll go first. I'm Mark." "The F*ck-Mothering Gamer." "Girard." "Bart." "Ignos." "Zenria." "Eiran." "Greg." "Iric." "MacDuffleBag." "Father O'Malley O'Connell O'Carroll O'Reilly O'Brian O'Sullivan, but you can call me Marcus." A mace and shield user called himself, "Teigan." A rapier wielder called himself, "Jean." The final a morningstar and shield user named, "Creighton." Then the tanks introduced themselves, the first a flail user who said, "Reikon." A maul user named, "Krieg." Next was a Pole-axe user ironically named, "Poll." Finally, a smaller man at the back wearing gauntlets simply said, "I'm called Little Cam."

Ok, now that I have the whole guild put together, what shall I do with them. I'll try my best to make them all be at least semi-main characters, although I'm betting I'll fail. Anyways, read, review, write, do whatever you want! I'll be back with another chapter soon. Asteelyman13, logging out.


	6. Guild base

**Hello denizens of the ! I, Asteelyman13, am writing a fanfiction! Of course, everyone who reads this already knows this, so, yeah. Anyways, my soul was just brutally murdered today, so I was thinking of how I will brutally murder a character in my story. I'll probably be over it soon, but then again, my heart has figuratively been ripped out, and put back in, none too gently mind you, without me being on sedatives or anything else. I am genuinely hating this past Valentines day… Anyways, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from SAO who may appear/die horribly.**

"Ok then," Mark said, "Let's start off by choosing who will be our leader. I'll quickly set up a poll, and send it to you all…" Mark pushed a few buttons in his menu, and soon, menus popped up in front of the rest of the group, including himself. A minute later, another menu appeared in front of everyone. This one announced the results of the poll. They were, "Mark, 7, T.F.M.G., 6, Iric, 3, Eiran, 1, Little Cam, 1." "Well, it looks as though Mark ended up being the leader, with T.F.M.G. as a close second," said Iric, "I guess the next thing would be a name, any suggestions?" "How's about Hopelessly Deadly?" a voice said. Iric looked at Mark, who said, "Well, why not, it sounds cool enough." A few minutes later, everyone had joined the guild 'Hopelessly Deadly' whose leader was Mark, second in command was T.F.M.G., and the three 'generals' were Iric, Eiran, and Little Cam. "Alright then, our first priority should be getting to another town, preferably far from the Town of Beginnings. We'll make up three parties, I'll be the leader of one, T.F.M.G. another, and Iric the third. We'll need two of each sub-class in each party. I'll take Little Cam, Poll, Zenria, Teigan, and Greg," this was Mark. "Ok, I'll take Girard, Marcus, MacDuffleBag, Bart, and Ignos," said T.F.M.G. Iric sighed and said, "I guess that leaves me with Eiran, Creighton, Reikon, Jean, and Krieg. Well then, now that that's settled, let's actually form the parties and move out."

Once they had left the town, Mark said, "Ok, here's the formation we'll be using; We'll have four on the front line, one-handed and shield users in the middle, tanks on either side. Support, stand behind the shield users and make sure we aren't hit from behind. My party will be in the center, T.F.M.G. will be on the left, and Iric on the right. In 30 minutes, we'll switch the positions of shields and support. Now, form up, and let's go!"

The guild took up a quick pace, and started on their journey. They ran into a few mobs, but overall, it was a relatively quiet trip. Finally, they arrived at a town called "Corton." "Ok, here's what we'll need to do, We need to set this up as a home base, so we'll record all the comings and goings of other players," Mark pulls up a map for reference, "Now, there are four entrances to this town. The southern gate, the eastern gate, the western gate, and the cave in the mountain that makes up the northern border of the mountain. We won't see many coming in from the cave, as there are higher-level monsters in there. In contrast, that could become a useful hunting ground. Anyways, back to the main topic of discussion. We'll need to post a guard at each entrance to the town. Once we are known for the safety of this town and its surrounding areas, we'll charge a 10 col fee for entrance into the town. Or they'd have to come through the cave, or even beat the on-duty guard to get in for free. And the last thing. The aforementioned cave has an amount of metals that could be useful in crafting weapons and armour, as well as selling. Out of the 15 left over from the perimeter guard this is what we'll assign. We'll have two one-handed users, one tank, and one support mine for metals, which we will use for the previously stated enterprises. We'll switch off who does what, so as the different people can both gain exp, and can take breaks when they need to. Now then, let's do this."

**Wow. That was short. Whoops. I just couldn't really get a good thing going, ya' know? Just didn't end up flowing. Well, actually, it did flow. Like honey. Really, really slowly. Sooooooo, now I'm going to figure out what went wrong in this chapter. Also, I know I haven't updated in a while, so that is why, I have decided to…**

**...Input a bonus blurb! Have fun with it!**

Veix stared at the village. He would draw them out, one by one, and kill them all, saving her for last. No, he would kill him in front of her eyes. The one she obviously preferred instead of him. He would laugh as he did it. All he needed to do now, is find someone to help him. He remembered a guild that some of the beta-testers had started up again. They'd been the pests of the beta-test, and now, they would be the instruments of revenge. He would join them, the Laughing Coffin. Only then, would she see how truly angered he was...

**Mwuhahaha! I've done it! I've set up the first major plot twist! Oh, don't worry though, no one will die…**

**...YET!**

**Anyways, please, review and do whatever else you want. Read, don't read, write, don't write, do anything that you want! See you next chapter. When I actually get to typing it out (already doing that,) and publishing it.**

**Asteelyman13, SIGNING OUT!**


	7. Guild Life

**Hello people! I'm back with the next chapter in Mark's story. I do not own SAO, only my OCs and this specific storyline. Also, just in case you were wondering, or I didn't specify, all of the normal events of the SAO anime/manga are still going on, this is just something else that is happening along the way. Have a good time reading! Also, thank you all those who have reviewed, if there are any by the time this has been published. HERE 'TIS!**

_Ok, here we go. My first solo in these caves. Zenria had told me about them back in the clocktower, and now, I'm going to try and level myself. Luckily, I was one of the people that got left out of the active duties. Now that I've snuck away from the rest of the group, including Zenria, I can do this._

Mark unsheathed his sword and held it ready as he entered the cave. Ten feet inside, he saw a monster. Mark approached it as quietly as he could, but it detected him anyway. It leapt towards him, and Mark smirked as he simply allowed it to impale itself on his blade. As the beast shattered, a variety of colours of eyes gleamed at him from the surrounding darkness. _Shit, there's more of them than I had originally believed there to be. Gah, why didn't I bring Zenria with me? _"Because you're an idiot that's why." _Exactly, and now, I'm having a conversation with myself in my head. Wait, that sounded too realistic, is it-_ His thoughts were cut off by someone saying, "Hey, you gonna respond or not?" Mark whipped around and apologized, "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sor-" Zenria punched him. "Whatever, let's just kill these things."

Mark exhaled heavily before saying, "Well there were a few of those. How much exp. did we even get from that fight?" Zenria looked at the menu that had popped up, "Enough to level me." Mark nodded, then said, "Well, should we go further into the caves?" "No." Mark whipped around to face the owner of the new voice. It was Krieg. "Oh, Krieg. Why not? What's happened?"

"There's a certain player at one of the checkpoints, he won't pay the fee, but instead is challenging you specifically."

"Well then, I guess I'll just have to duel him."

A few minutes later, they arrived at the checkpoint. There were a few players waiting impatiently to get inside. Mark addressed them, saying, "If you do not wish to wait, you can enter through the western or southern gates. Now then, who was the player who wanted to duel me for entrance?" A player stepped forward. "I take it was you then?" The player only nodded, and sent Mark a duel request. Mark accepted, and readied himself. The other player took out a dagger, and started tossing it into the air. Mark noted that the player was wearing an odd sheath, it seemed as though there were ten stacked on top of each-other. "3, 2, 1," the timer counted down, and the duel commenced.

The challenger ran at Mark, dagger pointed away from his body. Mark swung at the man, and missed. The challenger stabbed Mark, letting go of the dagger afterwards, and pulling another out. Mark spun around, his sword at arms length, trying to hit the challenger with this scything blow. The man dodged this as well, stabbing Mark twice more, in the same manner as before. As the man pulled away, Mark noticed his life depleting. The daggers stuck into him were sucking out his life! Mark switched to defense, his unarmed hand tearing out the daggers, and throwing them onto the ground. His attacker came at him once more, but this time Mark sidestepped him. The man slipped on one of his own daggers, and fell. Mark ran up to the man, and cut of his hands, rendering the man unable to attack. The duel went to him. Mark gave the man a potion of healing, and sent him on his way…

(attackers P.O.V.)

_Shit, I lost. But at least I got some useful information on the guy. I guess I'll go back to base for now, but once I've got my hands back, It's show time…_

(No-one's P.O.V.)

"Damn, that was a good hard fight."

"Of course it was, that guy obviously has played this before. He might have even been a beta-tester."

"Zenria, you were a beta-tester, did you recognise him or his fighting style at all?"

"..."

"I guess that means she does know him."

"What he said at the start, did anyone hear him?"

"I don't think anyone but you did, Iric. You were the closest."

"He said, 'It's show time,' any of you beta-testers recognize that?"

"You don't mean, that he was, a member of Laughing Coffin?!"

"Not just any member, he was the guildmaster of L.C."

"No way, so not only is L.C. still going on, but…"

"They're targeting us, or at least the leader."

"Why, why would they target us?!"

"Because they were hired."

"But who hired them?"

"I think I know who."

"Tell, us, now!"

"It was Veix."

"No…"

"It can't be!"

"He hated L.C. he was their worst enemy, hell, he even started a guild to oppose them in the beta-test!"

"Well it looks like he's changed his mind, for whatever reason, and now, he's hired them to eliminate either us as a whole, or just the leader."

"But what could the leader have possibly done to make Veix this mad? To make him go completely against his own morals, to hire those, fiends, to kill him?!"

"He stole me. Veix thinks that Mark stole me away from him."

"He's, jealous?"

"Yes. You probably didn't know this, but I knew Veix IRL. It was very clear, both IRL and in-game that he liked me. He came after me, trying to win my favor. And now, after all of the work he put into it, some noob comes in, whom I had just met that day, and steals me from him. Veix is very much the jealous type. And when he's jealous, he is a force to be reckoned with."

"Well then, we'll just have to deal with him when the time comes. Everyone agree?"

The room rang with a chorus of "Yes."

(Zenria's P.O.V.)

_That idiot. Doesn't he know what will come from dealing with those lunatics? They'll either kill him, or he'll become one of them! I have to stop him some way or another, but how will I-_

"Zenria, Zenria, snap out of it!" Mark shouted as he shook her. "Oh, sorry, I was just deep in thought," I said. Mark looked at me for a moment, then said, "You know, if you're that concerned about him, you can tell us. We're here for you, as your fellow guild members." I smiled at him. _Is this how he acts in real life as well?_ Mark smiled back at me, and after a moment, said, "So, what're we gonna do about this? How are we going to deal with L.C. and Veix. Just from fighting with their leader, and watching your fight with Veix, makes me think that this will be quite difficult..." He rambled on. After going through such an intense fight, most people would concentrate on themselves. But Mark was looking after her instead. She turned her thoughts back to reality. "Hey, Zenria, are you OK?" Mark asked. He was so thoughtful… "I noticed you zoning out after the fight. Did something happen in the beta-test, with L.C? I can tell that you're hiding something. You don't have to hide it. You can tell me, I promise, I won't judge you, at all…" I looked up at Mark, and then back down to the floor. _I guess I should tell him, and I know he said he wouldn't judge, but, no, I'll tell him. As our guild master, he has a right to know. _"I was, the original founder, and leader, of Laughing Coffin," I said. Mark burst out in laughter. I glared at him and said, "What, you don't believe that a girl could have been one of the best player-killers in the beta-test?" Mark gasped for breath, saying, "No, that's not it at all. By the way you were acting, I thought that it was something way worse than that." "So you're saying it's fine to create a guild of player-killers?!" I was angry at him, angry because he wasn't. "No, not at all. If you hadn't made that guild, someone else would have. So I don't blame you. I'm not angry, and frankly, I think I know exactly why you did it," he said. I looked at him questioningly. He further explained, "Well, it's essentially the same thing as what you did earlier. You wanted to show that women could be just as good of players as men are. So, you tried to be the best player-killer there was. I understand. I'm not angry. In fact, I think that it's great that you tried to prove it, although, don't do it anymore, because we don't need anymore problems on our hands, OK?" I just stared at Mark. _Was he always this nice? Did I not notice?_ "Anyways, I've got guard duty on the west entrance. We can talk more later," and with that, Mark left. I sat on my bench, contemplating what Mark had told her. Then I noticed someone sitting next to me. I nearly jumped out of my own skin in surprise. It was T.F.M.G. "What do you want?!" I yelled at him. "Whoa, whoa, calm down. I'm just here to talk, you don't have to bite my head off…" he said. I turned away from him. "So, Mark was talking to you eh? Probably giving you a pep talk, right?" he asked. I thought for a moment, and responded, "Is he always like that, so, nice and, self-oblivious?" T.F.M.G. just smiled and said, "I know, it's weird. He's always been like that. He doesn't really care for himself, more for those around him. He's the best person I know."

"So, he is like that, in the real world."

"Definitely, in fact, I've got a pretty good story about it. Wanna hear?"

"Sure, why not."

"Well, one day, Mark, a few of our friends, and myself were hanging out. Then, we got a stupid idea. Each of us would climb into this tree, near the river, and jump from it, into the river. One of our friends jumped, and knocked himself out. My brother, seeing that he was drowning, jumped in as well. Cut his right arm up pretty badly too. He's still got the scar, anyway, he pulled that poor kid out of the river, and gave him CPR. Then he passed out as well. We brought the two to the nearest hospital, and hoped for the best. Our friend woke up first, with a nasty headache. About an hour later, Mark woke up. You know what the first thing he said was? 'How's my friend doing.' Nothing about his arm, no complaining about the pain, just how's my friend. And you know what the first thing he said when we gave him the news that our friend had minor concussion was?"

"What was it?"

"His exact words were, 'So he gets out relatively unscathed, whereas I take a crazy amount of damage to my dominant arm, meaning that now, I'll have to learn how to effectively use my left!? Whatever. I won't die, and neither will he, so it's fine. But tell him that this had better not happen again,' and guess what, we did the same exact thing, almost replicating the results."

"No…"

"TWICE!"

I facepalmed. There really was no end to those two's stupidity, but, neither was there for their sympathy, empathy, and compassion towards others…

**Hey-ooo. Wow, that was a really long gap between updates. Oh well. I guess you guys will understand, right? Right? Please? Do you understand? Oh come on! Anyways, thank you sooo much for becoming the first follower of this story, BotanicaSapiens! The spot of "First reviewer" is (sadly) still up for grabs. I will specifically mention all followers of this story, or my profile in my either forwards or end-notes. All reviews will be responded to, et-cetera et-cetera. Anyways, I think you guys deserve another bonus-blurb! I'll be giving these out as per: Really long gaps between updates, 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th et-cetera followers, and 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th et-cetera reviewers. Here's the blurb!**

_Well then, this is boring. Why do I have to be one of the guards again? Oh, yeah, it's good p.r. for one of the guards to be the guild master. Whatever. Anyways, It's not like L.C. will launch an all out assault on us… _Suddenly, a player ran up to Mark. "Here, take this letter, bye!" and with that, the man ran off. _What the hell? _Mark opened the letter, and read it. "SPEAK OF THE GOD-DAMNED FUCKING DEVIL!"

**Well then, there's my bonus-blurb quota, and it has been met. See ya later my good readers! (Oh yeah, I know when I have readers. I can tell by this magical thing called a status board that is kept on my profile. There have been quite a few of you, and I thank you all for that.) Anyways, have a great rest of the day/night.**


	8. Guild Life cont

**Hi there. I've been getting, inspiration, from various sources IRL. I think that my story will develop very nicely. Sooo, I'm going to continue the story. Oh yeah, I think you'll love the part that I will {eventually} get to. Or, maybe you'll want to brutally murder me. Or both! Enough of my blabbering, I know what you want, the story. So here it is. Also, one more thing that I really need you to do…**

**IS REVIEW!**

**Please do, I will thank my first reviewer eternally. And respond to them all. See ya!**

"EVERYONE! GET YOUR WEAPONS READY! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"

Everyone in the city heard this, and ran to the source. They found Mark, weapon drawn, ready to fight anything that came his way. Zenria sighed and said, "You know, you can't be killed in a town." Mark looked at her in disbelief. She shook her head at him, and pulled out her scythe, winding up for an attack. "Wait, come on, there's no need to be rash, let's just talk this-" Mark was cut off as he was hit by Zenria's scythe. He flew backwards from the impact. "Check your health, idiot." Mark did as Zenria told him to, and found that his health hadn't gone down at all. "Oh. You're right…"

"So, what was this about being under attack?"

Mark handed Girard the message, who in turn gave it to the others.

"This is what you were worried about? Well then, let me tell you this important bit of information. L.C. won't strike until we're split up. Until we're an easy target. So quit your whining. And, they can't attack while we're in town. It's a threat, alluding to the future. Anyways, by the context of this letter, it seems as though they're planning on attacking on floor 50. It'll be a while until they attack."

Everyone burst out in laughter, and Mark turned red. This made everyone else laugh even harder. Mark quickly grew annoyed, and called out, "Ok then everyone, back to your posts, double time!" Everyone just looked at Mark, but then saw the look on his face. All but Zenria flinched, and stammered, "Y-y-yes sir! W-will do s-sir. An-any-anything for you s-sir!" And so, they ran away, going back to what they had before, with an odd sense of urgency. Mark looked at Zenria, and they laughed. When they stopped, they looked at each-other for a moment, and Zenria said, "Well, fearless leader, just in case some more scary L.C. members show up, I think I'll stay here with you." Mark looked at her and smiled.

(T.F.M.G.'s P.O.V.)

"What was that?! The leader was really scary back there!"

I laughed internally, "Oh yeah, you wouldn't know, would you. IRL, my bro can be pretty scary when he wants to. In fact, he once convinced our, 'friends' although I definitely wouldn't call them that, to stop 'playing around' with this kid at our school."

"Did he actually hurt them, or just do what he did with us?"

"Not either really, he just glared at the two for a few seconds, and they went running scared."

"So your brother was a complete badass IRL. That is awesome."

"Not only just a badass, he's also quite the empathetic person. If he wasn't, he wouldn't have stopped our, friends, and then go back afterwards, and make that kid his own friend."

"Damn, your brother is a great person!"

"I know, but I think he's a little bit more reserved than you would think."

"He seemed pretty outgoing when I met him."

"Sure, but remember, he thought you were me. Also, I'm betting that if he had gone recruiting for the guild alone, he wouldn't have been so successful as he and Zenria were together."

"Speaking about the leader and Zenria, what do you think about their developing relationship?"

"My damned brother. He always gets the girls, here, and IRL. He needs to just back off. With him around the guild, none of us will ever get our own girls."

Everyone stared at me. Then, as if coming to a decision, Eiran said, "Well, then I guess we'll have to make them work, right? And, maybe, if you're lucky, you'll get to date me."

Everyone looked at her, eyes wide with hope. I. just laughed, "Good luck with that though, she's had, how many suitors by now, and she's turned them all down. I'm actually starting to question her sexual preferences…"

Eiran's face went red in a matter of seconds, "W-w-what are y-you s-s-saying?! I-I j-just haven't ac-accepted un-until n-now be-because, w-well, I di-didn't li-like any of th-them be-before! Y-you kn-know t-th-that!"

I laughed at her, and walked over to her. Then, patting her on her head, I said, "I knew that. I was just getting revenge for you getting onto SAO before I gave you the green-light. Everyone, she's free game!"

Eiran pulled out her sword, pushed me to the ground, and impaled me. I smiled at her, saying, "I can't lose health in a town. Remember?"

What she said next scared me half-to-death.

"We won't always be inside of a town or inn, will we?"

Everyone was stunned. And then they laughed. Again. "What is it this time!?" I yelled.

"Well, looking at you two, you should be able to figure it out!"

Then, I realized it. Eiran was on top of me. They were hormonal teenagers, at least, most of them were. Eiran's face, was waaaay too close to mine. Her face, was incredibly red, almost crimson. She briskly stood up, and looked at them. I had forgotten to tell them, that she had my brother's talent of making people become scared shitless. Of course, she was much better at it. Every one of them dropped, having fainted out of fear. Well except for Little Cam. He just laughed, saying, "I see she has her cousin's talent. Nice. But I think the embarrassment on her face ruins how scary it is for me."

He walked over to her, and patted her on the shoulder, saying, "Nice job. Sorry about the implications those fools made."

Girard regained consciousness, saying, "Who are you calling fools, and get your hand off of her, she's mine!"

Little Cam smiled at him and said, "Sorry, I think she chose me. After all, I'm the one with the hand on her shoulder."

Eiran was shocked for a moment, and then said, "Well, with that logic, yes I did choose you. So, what is the prize for this contest of your's, the one seeing who could get together with me?"

"Only the fact that I would be with you, and not them. They, however, wanted a cash reward."

Eiran glared at them again, once again dropping all of the men into unconsciousness via fear. "Well then, shall we go?" Little Cam asked her.

"What do you mean by th-"

I watched as she was cut short by Little Cam's picking her up, and carrying her off bridal-style. What surprised me, was that she didn't complain at this treatment of her.

(Jean's P.O.V.)

_Combo A: Left, right, up, up._

_Combo B: Left, left, down, right._

_Combo C: Right, up, down, left._

_Combo D: Right, right, left, right._

_Combo E: Left, left, right, right._

_Combo F: Up, down, up, down._

_Combo G: Up, up, down, down._

_Combo H: Left, right, left, right._

_Those are the combos I want to master. First, I'll use combo G, then H, then A, then B, and then start for real. That was a good hit. As was that one. But I need to be faster, faster, FASTER!_

(Greg's P.O.V.)

I walked away from our designated training grounds. Jean had been there for about five hours now, working on the speed of his sword skills. I told him to stop, to take a break, but he just replied, "No, It's not fast enough, or strong enough, I'm not good enough!" I shook my head, and said, "Ok then, you do this for one more hour, and if you still aren't good enough, I'm taking you into the fields to grind. You'll get stronger in less time that way." He had ignored me, slashing away at the practice dummy. He is such an idiot. All of the sudden, I bumped into an NPC. Hard. I flinched, waiting for the inevitable harassment warning. It didn't come. I uncovered my eyes, and looked up. I was staring an NPC in the face. As well as a menu. The NPC must have been a quest giver. I looked at the details, and the quest rewards. I grinned, and accepted the quest. I ran back to our training grounds. Once there, I grabbed Jean, yelling, "No time to explain, come on!" As I was dragging him along, I heard him say, "I believe you said you would wait an hour before coming and getting me."

"So you aren't deaf after all. Well forget that, and join my party. I think you'll be very happy with the end results." I stopped for a moment to send him the request. He accepted, and I started dragging him again. He looked over the quest details. "So this is why you dragged me along. Whatever."

We reached our destination. It was the cave at the northern end of the village. I got my halberd out of my storage, and he readied his rapier. We entered the cave. Twenty steps in, Jean flipped his sword around, and stabbed behind him. I heard the enemy he had stabbed disintegrate after it had died. We continued on, facing a few mobs here and there, once running into a whole mob of them, which I solved by having Jean duck, while I whirled my halberd around my head, striking large amounts of mobs, and killing them. Finally, we reached our destination. We saw a skeleton, and next to it, a sword. I grabbed the sword, and put it into my inventory. I turned to leave, but then saw a monster about to attack Jean. I ran at him, and kicked his legs out from under him. The monster's blade swished through the air where Jean's neck had just been. _That, was a close one._ "Jean, we've gotta kill this thing. I'll distract it from you, and you deal the damage." I looked over to him, but he was gone. _The son of a bitch left me to deal with this on my-_ I thought nothing more as the monster attacked me. It stood around 10 ft. 7 in. **(About 3 meters) **and was heavily built. The, thing, had no neck, brawny arms and legs, and a head that was ovular. It swung the sword it had in its left arm at me. I blocked, kicked the arm away, and slashed at its body. The monster attacked again, and this time I dodged, and attacked it's head. The monster and I continued like this for a few more minutes, until it died. After I had killed it, I heard the death animation and sound play once more behind me. I whipped around, to see Jean grinning at me. "I guess you missed the second one. Good thing I got it." I shook my head at him, and said, "Come on, let's turn in this quest."

**Holy crap that was long. How do you like my evolving writing style? I still don't know what to think of it. Oh well. You tell me if it's good, or complete crap. Either way, I'll take your opinion to heart. Oh, and if any of you find the Konami Code hidden in this chapter, send it to me via private message, and I'll respond to you with the next chapter, a day or two early. Anyone who finds this for the first time, and sends it to me at any time during this story's life, this applies. But if someone posts it into the reviews, this deal is over. Have fun searching, I'll be putting more bonus stuffs in like this for you, my valiant followers. Also, because of my, odd, circumstances, I was able to put these chapters out like machine gun fire. Have fun reading the next eventual one. I'll try to make them all mega-chapters like this and the last.**


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